Special Report

This Is the County in the Asheville, NC Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: May 25, 2022 3:30 am

To date, 82,217,041 Americans are confirmed to have been infected with COVID-19 — and over 1 million have died as a result. On a per capita basis, the U.S. has one of the highest known infections rates in the world.

In the Asheville metropolitan area, located in North Carolina, a total of 98,830 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 21,965 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — below the national rate of 25,130 cases per 100,000 people.

The lower than average per capita COVID-19 infection rate across Asheville is being driven by one area in particular.

The broader Asheville metro area comprises four counties or county equivalents — and of them, Buncombe County in North Carolina has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 54,868 confirmed infections in Buncombe County, or 21,561 for every 100,000 people.

Not only does Buncombe County have the lowest per capita infection rate in the Asheville metro area, it also has a relatively low per capita fatality rate.

There have been a total of 229 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Buncombe County, below the 267 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Asheville metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of May 23, 2022.

These are all the counties in North Carolina where COVID-19 is slowing (and where it’s still getting worse).